In Gaza, 24 people were injured in an explosion in the house of a Hamas commander last night. Israeli media Haaretz quoting medical workers in the Palestinian territory has reported that injured people were inside and outside the senior Hamas commander Alaa al-Danaf’s house when incident took place. It was unclear if the commander was killed in the blast. The Israeli Defence Forces spokesperson has denied any involvement while Hamas blamed Israel for the explosion, which it said targeted field commander Alaa al-Danaf. The incident occurred at a time when tension is rising between Israel and Hamas in Gaza after renewed cross-border violence in the area. Earlier a senior Hamas commander was killed in an Israeli air strike on Saturday, which was the first Hamas functionary killed since Israeli military offensive in Gaza, which ended in January 2009. A series of similar rocket attacks from Gaza and retaliatory airstrikes by Israel led to the Gaza war in December 2008 in which more than 1300 Palestinians and 7 Israelis were killed.